Automatic unidirectional gear



Patented Feb. 26, 1946 UNITED STATES PATENT OFF] C E MITOMATIG: UNIDIzREG BIONnL. GEAR Arthur. A. Mettert, Washington; D; (3;

Application; September 14, L945, Sf'eriat NmfiliLZH 4' Claims.

My invention relates to the transmission of power and has among its objects and advantages the provision of an improved automati'c unidirectional' gear.

An object of my invention is to provide a gear for operatively connecting a drive shaftwith a driven shaftin which thegear embodies novel means for driving the driven gear in one direction only regardless of the direction of rotation of. the drive shaft.

A further object is to provide a device of the type described. in which the drive and driven shafts may he: axially aligned and" operativelyconnected: through the medium of a gear designed to rotate the driven shaft in: a given direction only regardless of forward or reverse rotation: of" the drive shaft.

Another object is to provide an automaticunidirectional; gear embodying'azn'oveli floating clutch mechanism so designed as tov be actuated through reverse rotation of the drive shaft. for continuing the rotation of the driven shaft in the. same direction. The gear embodies novel means designed to protect the operating parts: from; breakage; The invention embodies relatively few." partscompactly arranged to provideanefiicient' anddurable assembly;

In the accompanyingdrawing:

Figure. l a; longitudinal sectional vievwof my invention;

Figure. 2 is a. to plan view? witlr apart removed for: the sake of clearness;

t includes integral clutch head: 30 having a shoulder" 32. bearing against one face of. the. section 241: The collar 34 is keyed to the shaft i2 and cooperates: with the shoulder 32- for restraini-ng relative: longitudinalmovement of the shaft, hut the. shaft; is free to rotate.

24: is provided with an axial; bore 36 havingsplinedi connection at 38with. a shaft 46. The oppositeiendof the shaft.40:is'rotatably supported inside a bore: 42: in the clutch head 36 To the shaft 46 I connect a; bevel gear 44 through the medium of. a key: 46 ,.an'd' the gear; is arranged in mesh. with bevel gears 48' rotatably mounted on shanks SUsecured by a mounting-block 52.: having a here: 54 for loosely receiving the shaft 40. Bevel gears are arranged". in meshwith a bevel gear 56 Ioosely'mounted: on the shaft 40? and splined at 58 to a housing section: 66 fixedly con:-

' nected. with the clutch head 36 through the Figure 3is: a. view similarto Figure I: butillus trating the position. of thegear whenv the driveshaft is rotated in a reverse. direction;

Figure 4: is a sectional detaillvi'evw of a modified detail: of my' invention; and:

Figure 5 is afragmentary detail view of a. portion of the structure illustrated in Figure 4..

In. the embodiment selected to illustratemy invention, I make. use of a drive shaft l lt and a. driven shaft l2 axially aligned as illustrated in: Figure 1. Drive shafti l-fl' is rotatably journal'ed in. the here it of the section I16 of" a. bracket! I8 constituting a. support. for the invention. Sec-- tion 260i: the bracket liltis provided. with a; bore.

medium: of screws 62'. Housing: section is telescopically arranged at 64. within one end of. a housing section 86. comprising a clutch part. Housing section 66 carries two screws 68' extending through bores. in: the trunnions: 5 I1: and threaded into the mountingrblo ck-5-2'..

- Huh 19. of. the: gear 56 isrbored at l 2iforhousing aflange; l4 formedfintegrally on: the. shaft 4ft and lying against. the, face 16; offthehulo. Gear 56 is restrained from movement longitudinally of the shaft 4:6sbyreason of theflan'ge 1:4 and themounting: block". 52;. Gear 44. is keyed to they shaft 46' andithe mounting blockii lies adjacentzthe gear; Thusthegear assembly istrestrained from; relative movement longitudinally of the shaft 40.

Upon the; shaft WI mount a clutch member 18 having angular dogs arranged for connection with the angular dogs" 82 on the clutch head 30'. The hub 84 of the clutch member 18 is slotted at 86 for the reception. of pins 88 fixedly connected with the shaft 46. Hub 8 aligns with the bore- ?2; and may be inserted therein for accommodating disconnection of thexclutch part. 18 from the clutch head 36$. Pins. 88 key the clutch part 18' to. the shaft am for; rotation. therewith, but the slots. 8:6; permitthe clutch part 1.8. to be: shifted longitudinally" of the shaft .40. Between the flange T4 and the. hub 84 13 position a compression spring 26; To the section. 16 I connect a. clutch part 82 means. of. screws? 94-, which clutch. part includesang-ular' teeth 96 arranged to have interfitting relation with: the angular teeth. 98 on the clutch housing: part 5-6 when. the latter. is. shifted from the position of iiigure 1-. to that illustrated. in: Figure 3-. Clutch; part 92. is: fixedly connected with the section. [6: while. the section 16 comprises relationbetween the dogs 80 and 82 is such as to effectively hold "the clutch part. 18 in .conj-j nected relation with the clutch head 30 during rotation of the clutch part 18 in the direction of the arrow I00. Clutch head efl is fixedly related to the driven shaft I2 so" as to cause rotation thereof in the same directionas that-indicated by the arrow IML During forward ro-' tation of the drive shaft 10 clutch part 18 will remain in connected relation with the clutch.

head 30 for driving the driven shaft in the same direction. With the clutch parts in connected relation according to Figures 1' and 2, the clutch housing part 60 will rotate with the shaft 40.

Should thedirection of rotation of the shaft l0 be reversed, the rear faces of the teeth or dogs 80 will react upon the rear faces of the dogs 82 and move the shaft ill to the left when viewing Figures 1 and 2. Spring 90- is of suincient tension to shift the shaft 40 and the gear assembly together with the clutch housing part 66. Dogs 95 and 9B are reversed with respect to the dogs 80 and82 so as to be brought into positive driving relation as the dogs .80 and 82 are being moved on to driving relation. The pressure bearing faces of the dogs'BE and 98 are so angularly related as to hold the dogs in effective connected relation. Dogs 96 and 98 will become fully engaged immediately upon complete disengagement of the'dogs Bil'from the dogs 82. The angular relationbetween the cooperating dogs in each set is such as to draw the cooperatingclutch parts together and prevent any separation therebetween so long as a load is applied. This feature provides a noiseless operation in addition to an effective 'connection.

As the clutch housing 66 is moved into connected relation with the clutch part 92, rotation of the drive shaft ID in the opposite direction will rotate the shaft 40 in the same direction. Bevel gear 44 will rotate the gears 48 upo'n'the trunnions 50 and the rotation of these gears is such as to rotate the'gear 5B in the direction of the arrow I00. Since the gear 56 is splined to the housing section 60 and the latter is keyed to the clutch head 30 the driven shaft l2 will be rotated in the same direction as when the drive shaft [0 is-rotated in the'direction of the arrow I00.

Rotationof the drive shaft Win the direction of the arrow [00, after a period of reverse rotation,'will' cause the dogs 98 to shift the clutch housing 66 to the-right when viewing Figures 1 and 2, thereby again bringing the clutch part 18 into connected relation with the clutch head 30. Compression spring 90 performs a cushioning function should either set of the clutch dogs fail to mesh immediately upon being brought into contacting relation. Spring 90 will yield under such conditions during the disconnecting action of either set of clutch dogs so as to remove strain from the parts. Such a condition is a momentary one and does not continue for any long period of time. Relative rotation between the clutch dogs being engaged will immediately bring the dogs into meshing relation.

Figures 4 and 5 disclose a modified form of connection between the shaft 40 and the head 24. Head 24 is provided with diagonal slots I04 for the reception of pins Hi6 fixedly connected with the shaft 40. While the head 24 and the shaft 40 are connected for limited relative rotary movement, pins I06 provide means for keying the two parts together so that they will rotate as a unit. The'slots are so angularly arranged as to impart relativeaxialmovement to thejsha ft-All so as to positively shift the clutch head 1'8 or the clutch sleeve 66 into connected relation with their respective clutch parts. In cases where relatively light loads are effective on the driven shaft, a construction according to Figures 4 and 5 is an advantage in that it provides positive shifting.

My invention is applicable to many arts. As

. an example, the unit may be incorporated in counters, speedometers and the like to the end that the driven shaft or unit will always be rotated in one direction regardless of the direction of rotation of the actuating means.

During rotation of the drive shaft in a forward direction, the driven shaft is rotated in the same direction while at the same time eliminating any movement of parts or rotation of gears other than as a solid shaft. When the drive member is rotated in a reverse direction, the clutch housing 68 is floated endwise into engagement with the stationary clutch part 92, which restrains further rotary motion of the housing in addition to putting the planetary gearing in motion for continuing rotation of the driven shaft in the forward direction.

Sections l6 and 20 are interconnected into a unitary structure by bolts I08.

I claim:

1. In a unidirectional gear, the combination of a rotative drive member, a rotative driven member arranged in axial alignment with-said rotative drive member, a shaft arranged in axial alignment with said rotative drive and driven members and having one end splined to the rotative drive member and its other end rotatably related to the rotative driven member, a spline element fixedly,

related to said rotative driven member, a housing slidably related to said rotative drive member and said spline element, a mount fixedly related tosaid housing and loosely mounted on said shaft, said mount being provided with opposed pivots, bevel gears rotatably mounted on said pivots, a third gear keyed to said shaft and meshing with said bevel gears, a fourth gear mounted on said shaft in mesh' with said bevel gears and having splined connection with said spline element, a dog clutch part fixedly related to said rotative driven memher, a companion dog clutch part splined to said shaft for engagement with said first dog clutch part to rotate the rotative driven member in a given direction upon rotation of the rotative drive member in the same direction, a fixed dog clutch part, and dog clutch means carried by said housing for engagementwith' said fixed dog clutch part when said rotative drive member is rotated in a reverse direction for rotating the rotative driven member in said given direction.

2. In a unidirectional gear, the combination of a rotative drive member, a rotative driven member arranged in axial alignment with said rotative drive member, a shaft arranged in' axial alignment with said rotative drive and driven members and having one end splined to the r0- tative drive member and its other end rotatably related to the rotative driven member, a spline element fixedly related to said rotative driven member, a housing slidably related to said rotative drive member and said spline element, a mount movably mounted on said shaft inside said housing and connected with the latter for rotation therewith as a unit, a pair of gears rotatably carried by said mount, a firstgear keyed to said shaft and meshing with one of said pair of gears, a second gear carried by said shaft and having splined connection with said spline element, a dog clutch part fixedly related to said rotative driven member, a companion dog clutch part splined to said shaft for engagement with said first-mentioned dog clutch part to rotate the rotative driven member in a given direction, a fixed dog clutch part, and dog clutch means carried by said housing for engagement with said fixed dog clutch part when said rotative drive member is rotated in a reverse direction for rotating the rotative driven member in said given direction.

3. In a unidirectional gear, the combination of a rotative drive member, a rotative driven member arranged in axial alignment with said rotative drive member, a shaft arranged in axial alignment with said rotative drive and driven members and having one end splined to the rotative drive member and its other end rotatably related to the rotative driven member, a spline element fixedly related to said rotative driven member, a housing slidably related to said rotative drive member and said spline element, a mount movably mounted on said shaft inside said housing and connected with thelatter for rotation therewith as a unit, a pair of gears rotatably carried by said mount, a first gear keyed to said shaft and meshing with one of said pair of gears, a second gear carried by said shaft and having splined connection with said spline element, a dog clutch part fixedly related to said rotative driven member, a companion dog clutch part splined to said shaft for engagement with said first-mentioned dog clutch part to rotate the rotative driven member in a given direction,

a fixed dog clutch part, dog clutch means carried by said housing for engagement with said fixed dog clutch part when saidrotative drive member is rotated in a reverse direction for rotating the rotative driven member in said given direction, and cam means cooperable with said rotative drive member and said shaft for shifting all said gears and said housing as a unit upon reverse rotation of the rotative drive member for effecting connection and disconnection of the respective clutch parts.

4. In a unidirectional gear, the combination of a rotative drive member, a rotative driven member arranged in axial alignment with said rotative drive member, a shaft arranged in axial alignment with said rotative drive and driven members and having one end splined to the rotative drive member and its other end rotatably related to the rotative driven member, a spline element fixedly related to said rotative driven member, a housing slidably related to said rotative drive member and said spline element, a mount fixedly related to said housing and loosely mounted on said shaft, said mount being provided with opposed pivots, bevel gears rotatably mounted on said pivots, a third gear keyed to said shaft and meshing with said bevel gears, a fourth gear mounted on said shaft in mesh with said bevel gears and having splined connection with said spline element, a clutch part fixedly related to said rotative driven member, a companion clutch part splined to said shaft for engagement with said first-namedclutch' part to rotate the rotative driven member in a given direction upon rotation of the rotative drive member in the same direction, a fixed clutch part, and clutch means carried by said housing for engagement with said fixed clutch part when said rotative drive member is rotated in a reverse direction for rotating the rotative driven member in said given direction.

ARTHUR A. METTERT. 

